November 6, 2013

Quick thoughts on current news - it's all bad.

My blog is still giving me a major headache. I thought I had almost had it fixed and suddenly my slider is locking up. Arg! I hate blogger but I don't think any other platform would be without its own idiosyncrasies. The battle to fix the site continues.

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Our less than illustrious leader, Toronto mayor Rob Ford has admitted to having used crack cocaine. He's following in the not so proud footsteps of former D.C. mayor Marion Barry. He's the butt of jokes around the world. Yet he's the only conservative politician to have won the post in basically forever, and those who are loyal to his political aims, are stuck being embarrassed by him. There's no other conservative candidate here on the horizon who can possibly win, and liberals, progressives and socialists are filled with glee at the notion that next year, they will be able to take the office back. Ford could still win re-election as the conservative standard bearer, but he's nobody's first choice.

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Speaking of standard bearers, how does it feel in the U.S. as a conservative to be faced with the prospect of Chris Christie, noted RINO by many, as your conservative standard bearer? His win for governor of New Jersey was truly mammoth (pardon the weighty pun). His odds of being the GOP nominee for president in 2016 were to say the least, not hurt yesterday. Liberals are probably thrilled at the prospect of a Christie nomination as they believe he cannot beat Hillary Clinton head-to-head in 2016. They may be right.

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In that vein, I'll be taking a detailed look at handicapping the GOP race for president in 2016 soon. I did so early on in the race for 2012 (back in 2010). It was somewhat off-base in terms of who ended up running, but it was not without its merits. Plus, it's fun to think about a brighter, less socialist future from time to time.

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More socialist, meanwhile is Virginia, which narrowly elected Terry McAuliffe to be its new governor. I hate to say I told you so on this one but I just could not see Ken Cuccinelli catching up in time for election day. Despite a massive disadvantage in spending he almost closed the gap. But in the end, the Democrat McAuliffe still won. He's a Clinton loyalist, and an Obamacare proponent. Geographically, most of the state went red, but the urban northeast districts were enough to drag McAuliffe across the finish line. By all rights he should have swamped Cuccinelli. that he didn't should be a silver lining for conservatives, but really, it's not. A win is a win and a loss is a loss. Let's not be the Bad News Bears and settle for losing.